July 14, 2026 • 37 mins
This week, Tommy is joined by actor Michael Johnston who plays Bear in Obsession, one of the biggest break-out movie of the year. Directed by Curry Barker, the film centers on Bear who uses a supernatural "One Wish Willow" to make his crush (played by Inde Navarrette) fall in love with him, only to trigger a deadly, twisted obsession. Today, Michael opens up about the moment his heartbeat was heard pounding on the mic during a particular scene, how he practiced self-care during such an intense shoot, the moment he thinks Bear realized something was wrong after he broke the One Wish Willow, the moments Inde’s performance genuinely scared him, why he can’t judge Bear as an actor even though he knows he’s a villain, whether Nikki ever truly loved Bear, the scene(s) he and Inde kept breaking in (due to lots of laughter), the alternate ending that was filmed, his pitch for the sequel and whether he wants to be in it, what acting has taught him about himself, why he wants to play a powerful gay character in an upcoming project, whether we can expect new music, why Teen Wolf will forever be meaningful to him, and so much more. And catch the mini rapid-fire “Hot Takes and Hangouts” interview with Michael out next Tuesday, July 21!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
me Tommy di Dario. One of the biggest movies of
the year is Obsession. It is shattering box office numbers
and even became the first movie since nineteen eighty two's
et to have bigger second and third weekends than the first.
That is so hard to achieve, and it just goes
(00:22):
to show what a special film Obsession is. And today
I have one of the insanely talented stars on my show.
Now you may know him as Bear, but in real
life he goes by Michael Johnston, and today he's answering
all of our burning questions. And a big shout out
to travel Guard, my personal sponsor for today's episode. Their
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(00:42):
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(01:02):
travel guard dot com for more they seriously change the
game when it comes to traveling peacefully. All right, let's
see if today we can get Michael to say something
that he has never said before. Michael Johnson, how are you,
my man?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I am psyched that you are here. It's weird to
see you in person because i feel like I've seen
you all over my social media for like a month
and a half NonStop. So I'm like, are you here?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I'm here. You know I'm here.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I'm real, Okay, I'm not not that guy.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
That you've been seeing.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Has that been a distinction you've had to make for
some fans? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
A few times.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Really, No, It's been really fun, but there are definitely
some people that are kind of giving me that side eye,
like what's.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
To deal with this guy?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Man, I mean congrats on all of it, possession. I
just saw it surpassed now four hundred million. That's nuts,
right on a seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars budget. Yeah,
like this little indie film that just blew up in
such a big way. Yeah. Was there any moment when
you were filming this where you thought like, could could
it turn into what it has?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I definitely try not to have those expectations when I'm
making a movie. But I would say no, I just
I we all knew that we were working on a
really special project, and you know, it was like, oh,
this is really good. But I never imagined that we'd
get a theatrical release, let alone break all these records.
(02:34):
So it's pretty it's pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I don't even know where it began. It's it's it's
one of those performances where you're like, wow, like you
you felt what you were going through.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Oh yeah, I felt that your body doesn't know that
it's not real and this is kind of nuts. But
there's a there's a scene at the end. If you've
seen the film.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
We can do spoilers.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a scene at the end where
bears in the bathroom, and I saw this clip of
the composer Rocky talking about how like he could hear
my heart beating like on my mic and he was
kind of using that as like inspiration to the music
as he was composing it for that scene. But that's
just to say that when I was playing this character,
(03:17):
I was really trying to go there.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And felt it felt real.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
There were times where it'd be like cut and I'd
be like and I have to go and kind of
chill out and you know.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Listen to some soothing music.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah. Yeah, I imagine the whole shoot, which was for how.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Long it was a twenty day shoot?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Twenty day shoot?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Too short?
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I mean, and you did that all in twenty days,
which is crazy emotionally too. I mean, did you need
time to come down after that?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Well so the first so if we're four weeks, the
first two weeks of shooting were all in Bear's house.
It's half the movie, so a lot of those scenes
are really super intense. So that was definitely the more intense.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Week two weeks. So the first week.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I kind of went in and you know, I'm doing
it all day, then you get home, and then you
then I'm learning my lines for the next day, and
so I'm pretty much don't get to turn it off.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And I just thought, oh, no, this is good.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I can do this. But it started to get it
started to kind of wear down on me. And I
remember this one time I walked by the mirror and
I just looked in the mirror and I just like
I looked like ten years older. Like I just felt like, oh,
my God, and then.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I'm like, oh wait, it's not none of this is real.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Like I had to just remind myself. But I really
enjoy that whole process. Like I'm not I'm not going
method or anything, but I really do enjoy the process
of like kind of carrying it around.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, but I'd love to do a romantic comedy next.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Something a little lighter. Yeah. Yeah, you beat yourself up
enough for that, I think. So, I mean, I hope
you have a good self care practice after.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I had to figure that out while we were shooting,
and it was usually taking a bath or just eating
really good eating really good, clean food and finding my
like cashew ice cream. So I'm upset my tummy, but
I have my little things. But yeah, I had to
figure that out because it got it got dark. Meanwhile,
(05:12):
Indy she's you know, she's brilliant in the film, and
she's playing this crazy character of this intense performance, but
like she was having fun.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
She was just like laughing and having fun then.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
But you know, I find that when it's a more
kind of crazy, intense, big performance, it tends to it
tends to be more of a blast. But when you're
sort of like the one that's the audience's way in
like you're watching it through. Everything is about what Bear
is experiencing, Like when when you're carrying that, the weight
(05:48):
of that during the filming it in my experience, it it.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Weighs on you a lot more emotionally.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, but you know, I'm learning as I as I go. Oh,
I'm excited to play all kinds of different.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Roles and yeah, yeah, you definitely can check horror off, but.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I want to do more horror.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I really like I think if I the next villain,
I would like to be maybe not as understated, like
I want to be like that guy where you're like, oh, yeah,
he's evil, no right away, but you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I'm open.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, you'll have many options, I no doubt. Let's dive
into the movie for a minute. There's so many questions
I have. I guess to start, when Bear breaks the
one wish Willow, what do you think is the moment
that he realized something was wrong? Like when did it
really kick in for him?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Well, it's kind of hard to answer that question because
I think Bear lives in a constant state of denial.
He's definitely if you're up on your attachment theory. He's avoidant,
extremely avoidant, and I just don't think he has the
tools to well. He certainly can't take any kind of
responsibility for anything that he's done.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That's just the kind of person that he is.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So I would but I think, I think where in
the film does he realize maybe that something's wrong. I
would say, right away, he knows that there's something wrong
with Nikki, But where does he realize that, like.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Oh my god, what have I done? I don't know if.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I don't know if it fully kicks in until the
middle of the film, and even when it does, it's
it's too hard for him to face it. So I'd
have to go back and watch again and see exactly where.
But I have heard people debating on this.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And kind of trying to figure out exactly what moment
it was.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
But all I can say is he certainly didn't think
that the wish was gonna work right. It was just
kind of like one of those things you think in
your head, like a thought. You never think, like, oh,
I'm just gonna say something and I'm alone in the car,
like I don't. You don't expect it, but it's you know,
it's about what he did after.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Right, right, And I mean watching you and Indie together
was it was thrilling to say the least.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, I just.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Never knew where it was gonna go. Yeah. Yeah, And
I know her facial expressions and her creepy smiling must
have been a little freaky on set for sure. But
was there something she like physically did where you were like,
this is freaking me out? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
A few times, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I mean, of course, I'd read the script and I
knew mostly what was coming, but we workshop things on
the day and they Curry the director, Curry Barker, and
Indy would often leave the room and go work on
it and then come back and I'd be like, what's.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Up, guys, what are we doing?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And they'd be like, you'll see. So I just had
to be present and be in the moment. But you know,
she threw some awesome stuff my way and we had fun.
She's the best scene partner. It's cool because in the
beginning of the film, when Bear first mixed the wish,
there was a lot of conversation about like how sudden
is the turn, and we sort of thought about kind
(08:48):
of trying to make it really subtle, but then we
try to take where it's like, oh no, she switches immediately,
and we knew that was it right away. There was
a moment, I think because we shot that on there
was a moment where we huddled together after a take
and I remember currying being like, guys, this.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Movie's gonna work. You know, it's just crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah, yeah, oh my god, how fun. That must have
been exhausting but fun.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, but you know it was everything. It was exactly
you know, it was a challenge. Every movie is a
kind of a miracle, right, So we were all putting
together this complicated puzzle and take the talent and you know,
hard work and luck and plenty of things that were
out of our control to kind of feel like we
(09:35):
just kind of caught lightning in a bottle with this,
you know, yeah, this whole this whole thing.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
You know, we made a great film.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
But also it came out at the perfect time, you know,
like Focused Features got it, Like they did an incredible
job with the marketing, Like shout out to the marketing campaign.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
It was brilliant.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
So yeah, I mean, I'm just so I'm so grateful
to get to do that. Yeah, you know, yeah, it's
a it's a it's a dream come true. It still
doesn't feel real. It's very like what is.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Happening right well?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
People coming up to me and stuff in public.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Like, yeah, it's also new, it's also different. It's it's
but it's deserved. Like I said, the performances were so great.
You're pretty you're pretty adamant that Bear is a villain? Right?
Did you? Did you always feel that way? No? His journey.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Here's the thing. This is really funny because.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
There's a clip on the internet of like of a
Q and A or something at one of the movie
theaters and someone asked me, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Is he the villain? And I'm sort of like, I
can't say yes or no.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
And then, you know, that ruffled some feathers because really,
if you looking at it objectively, like, yeah, of course
he makes some horrific decisions, and so that would.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Be classified as a villain.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
But you know, one, I would sleep deprived because we
just did our press junket. But two, what I realized
is after I've watched the film a few more times,
it kind of opened my eyes to like the process, Like,
when I'm playing Bear, I'm not thinking about whether or
not he's a villain, like, it's not my job to
judge the character.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
That's all up to the audience and the script and
the director. The director.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
For me, I have to actually be really careful not
to put any judgment on what he's doing, because my
job is only to bring humanity to his experience and.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Make it real and believe it.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
And most villains don't think that they're villains, right, So
I feel like, in my experience as an actor, you
are really protective of your characters that you're playing because
you're living in their head.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
You know, I didn't want to.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I don't I'm not playing Bear and thinking, wow, I'm
really a piece of shit, Like that wouldn't be fun.
So but you know, so after that I kind of realized.
I'm like, I'm watching that clip and I'm like, well, no,
he's the villain.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I just I didn't want to judge him while I
was playing him because I'm sitting there trying to literally
justify everything that he's doing. And the way that that
kind of looked was in my opinion, Bear kind of
has this tunnel vision and all he sees is what
he wants, which is this girl, because he thinks that
(12:16):
the idea of her is going to fix all the
problems in his life, or at least make it so
that he doesn't have to feel all the pain, because
look at the film, he's like, he's like popping pills
that belonged to his grandmother who recently passed away. He's
lost his pet, he's very lonely.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Like you know, I think.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
He's just like a sad little boy. You know, we
don't really get to see a lot of what happened
in their lives before, so I had to kind of
come up with these ideas of what his life must
have looked like.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
And I don't think.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Bear ever wanted anyone to get hurt. He didn't intend
to do anything bad. He didn't want his friend to
be suffering. But I think that one pivotal moment in
the film where he's sort of like, you know, what's
so bad about being with me? Like, yeah, it's very villainous.
But I think even in that moment, at least, the
way that I played it and the way that it
(13:06):
kind of the way that I had to justify the
action came from a place of like, Okay, well, this
guy thinks he's like in such a deep hole that
there's just that there's no one watching, there's no one
to be He's not going to be held accountable, and
that is awful, it's truly awful. But when I'm in
Bear's head, I'm sort of just kind of, Yeah, he's
(13:30):
only thinking about himself.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It's awful. It's really selfish.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
But he's not thinking like, oh, I want you to suffer.
It's just he's a flawed guy. So yeah, if that
kind of makes sense. It's like, I just to be
able to play this character because I would never do
the things that he's doing. I would never it's awful,
but he doesn't see it that way. That's what I
(13:54):
loved about the script.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
When I read it.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I was so excited that it didn't turn out to
have that sort of redemption arc, because I think that's
kind of a what do you call it, like a
trope it So it happens a lot. It's like, we
redeem our characters. We want to go home feeling nice
and warm and fuzzy inside.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
None of this film, no way.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Oh no, there's nothing mormon fuzzy, not at all. But
it's it's it's captivating, and it's not how I thought
it would end, which is what I appreciated. Truly. I'm like,
oh wow, I didn't see that coming. I thought that
was really really cool.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
One of the most debated questions I feel like that
I keep seeing is did Nikky ever at one point
truly love Bear.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
That's a great question, And I never even asked myself
that until way after we were done shooting, Like in
my mind, like playing like again with that tunnel vision
where I have to play Bear.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
My answer was.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Always no way, she's going to reject me. That's how
he lives his life. That's he There's no way he
doesn't have confidence. Actually, then looking back and then hearing
from the actor and the director's perspective, they were both like, yeah,
she was kind of like dropping a couple hints. But
then I think what happened in that same like following
moment in that same scene was that she kind of
(15:15):
like was turned off by his utter lack of confidence,
Like she like threw him the ball, like here's your opening,
tell me how you feel. And when he kind of
didn't do it, she's like whatever, Like, but Indy told
me that she she played it even a little bit disappointed,
So you know, if he would have just like, that's
the lesson, just like tell him how you feel, right, Yeah,
(15:36):
but then we wouldn't have this movie right, and we
wouldn't have all these arguments right.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
And also it's so human to feel something for someone
and not say anything. I feel like we've all been
there before.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Oh yeah, absolutely, I was reliving a moment when I
did that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, no, it felt very real, you know. And also
like the movie's really funny too. I didn't know it
was going to be funny like that. That was all
on the editing. We played everything very straight straightforward with Bear.
I was watching the movie for the first time in
the theater with all these people and they're laughing.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I felt embarrassed. I was like, geez, why you.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Thought they were laughing at your performance?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
No, no, Like I didn't realize how awkward. Well, I
knew it was awkward in the moment, but I didn't
realize that that awkward tension would often translate into huge laughs,
Like I just I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I was sort of in my mind.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I think I was sort of playing like very serious,
like everything that's happening is very very serious to Bear.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, right, but you know, Curry is editing his comedy background.
It was brilliant. Yeah, I love it. I'm glad. I'm
glad that they found the balance of the humor because
the movie's dark.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah. Yeah, no, I feel we needed that.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
We needed that.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, well, because you played it so straight during the
entire duration of the filming and you didn't add in
that humor purposefully. Right. Was there a scene or moment
where you and Indie kept breaking like oh that you
were just laughing so hard and you're like, wait, we
got to get our shit together. Come on, what moment
was that?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Oh? Man? I mean there were so many moments. I mean,
I would say that.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
With Horror, the scary moments, they're very technical, and you know,
it's not dark, it's pretty lit when you're shooting it.
They do that all in the editing, and you don't
hear the music and you know the so it doesn't
really tend to feel scary. It kind of feels really silly.
(17:37):
And in those really technical moments, the scary moments, you
are fully having to trust the director like is this
really scary? Is this really working? You just have to
trust that they know what they're doing and just kind
of be their puppet like do exactly, okay, move yourhead,
do this okay. Sure, So I think that for example,
the head smashing scene in the car, I just remember
(18:00):
we were cracking.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Up, especially Indy.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Indy had this like helmet on with a wig because
she actually like smashed through the glass and we were
all like wearing the wig and passing it around and
like dancing around. I'm sure there's like videos on TikTok
of it that that and oh yeah, and then a
lot of the scary like I remember there's a scene
that's where she says like I'm your freaking Nikki and
(18:24):
smiles at me and the like near the kitchen or something.
And the first time I saw.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
That, I went, oh, And I remember Curry was like, Michael,
shut up, like because I.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Was ruining the the take because I justly got this
visceral reaction out of me.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
But and then you know, we're laughing.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
But we the whole time we were laughing, And it's
really important, I think, to kind of keep it light
when you're making a movie like this.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, for sure, you got a laugh like that. People
are like, oh, I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I remember people being really sensitive about like I don't
want to take you out of them, like no, please, God.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Please, it'skill me. A joke said, you're not method.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I'm not going like it's okay, no, And I don't think.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
You should have gone method for a role like this
that might be a little a little scary.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Did you my God? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Film and alternate ending, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, we did.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
It was so there's a toward the end of the film,
there were a couple different moments that we played with,
Like the big one would be, you know, Nikki's about
to make a decision at the end, and so the
first thing we did was actually film the gun going
off and the blood splatter, and it was practical and
(19:34):
it was so gruesome and it was devastating. And then
we decided to get the take where she lives.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And thinking that the other one was going to.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Be too intense, but actually it turned out that her performance,
I think we only made done one take of that
final one that made it, I think, and her her
performance was so devastating to then like wake up and
see all of her friends and then and then as an audience,
you're left wondering, like how much of that did she
actually see? Like because we don't quite know the experience
(20:05):
that she was having exactly what it was like, so
that ended up being even more devastating. So they went
with that one, which I think was the right choice.
And then another thing that we played around with was
Bear's bathroom scene. Originally in the script, it was that
he can't go through with it, and then he takes
the pills and he's just kind of sitting there waiting
(20:27):
and then she makes the wish.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
And he comes out.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
But I actually got the idea when we were filming
that I think Bear would chick it out and try
to get rid of the pills. And so I just said, hey, guys,
we were moving on, and I said one more I
have an idea, let me try it.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
And they're like, we can't. We're getting kicked out of here.
We gotta go, and I'm like, no, trust me.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
They and I told them what it was, and I
remember Curry was like, roll again, roll again, and we
got it and it was so good. Also, like I'm
swallowing these pills right, so they're like they're like twenty
like sugar pills or something in this thing. Then all
the other takes, I just put them in my mouth
and held them there, and then when we were done,
like spit them out. But on that take that made
(21:07):
it into the film, like gag, I swallowed them, like
like twenty pills.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Oh god, I.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Feel like I had striped throat afterwards. But I did it.
I couldn't.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I'd never thought I can't swallow one pill. You know,
I'm like, I drink a whole glass of water trying
to get one pill down, and somehow I got that down.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
So I was very proud of myself.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You should be very proud. That should go on your image.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Maybe not, Okay, probably not.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's wow, that's so cool. And the take they kept,
the take of you trying to spit the pills.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah when you thought made it?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, which is so cool.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
No, it made it. And then you know, that just
speaks to like the kind of environment that Curry.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Allowed on set. He was he was very specific. He
had a really very specific vision for everything that he wanted.
But then we would get that and then we could
play and he's like, hey, you know, we have time.
You guys have an idea or whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
He was very open to it, and I think that's
how movies should be.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, because we're all.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Bringing our own experience and perspective, and you know, and
he did. He was he was very open to like
it was very much like a best idea win situation.
But usually usually Curry had the best idea. It was
just funny because that's a bad idea. Is the name
of his you know channel for all their videos. So yeah,
(22:23):
it was so much fun working with those guys.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So obsession too.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Everyone keeps asking are you throwing your name?
Speaker 1 (22:30):
And can you somehow bring me back? Can I resurrect?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Look?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And I mean it's a magical world. Anything can happen.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I would love that. I will say, there's no plan
for that. And also, I don't know how many people
would want Bear. I think a lot.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
I think the general consensus is that he kind of
got what he deserved.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Unless Nikki gets to have her chance now ruining his.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Life, well that could be interesting vigilante kind of thing,
But I think that My.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Idea was always that it'd be like.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Bear's parents came back to town and walk in and they're like,
what happened?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
And maybe they step on the willow.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
There's like one on the floor or something, and I
don't know, I don't know, but you know, Curry's idea
of having it as be an anthology series is really
really cool, all different stories, and I'd love to see.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
A wish Gone right? Yeah, how fun would that be?
Like a selfish wish gone.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Right might be not the horror genre.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Then well, it didn't all have to be horror.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I think you just have to really be careful how
you phrase it.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Well, that's true, that's true. If you learned anything, it's
definitely that. I can't believe that this movie, it's like
the little engine that could have taken on the life
that it's taken on. And you've been an actor for
many years now, right, and this was your big break,
but you've been you've been at it for a while.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
What is acting taught you about yourself over the years?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
I think, well, part of the reason why I always
loved acting pretending to be someone else, because like when
I was young, I felt very uncomfortable in my own skin.
And then I think through pretending to be other people
and my interest in watching people and trying to understand
(24:20):
why they do the things they do, has helped me
sort of form my own personality and opinions. And so
it was just like my safe place like it was.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
It was easier and safer.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
And more fun for me to like do things I've
never done and say things I've never said by playing
it as someone else.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
It was like practice for me. And then I think.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
As I've grown and through my twenties, I've just become
more confident as in who I.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Am sort of. So yeah, it's it's been really cool.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Also, I haven't always been an on camera actor, like
I started with a voice overwork and that was really
why I moved out to Los Angeles from a small
town North Carolina. And then I met my manager and
he's like, you gotta do.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Film, And I was like, I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
If I'll be good, Okay, let's go. I don't know,
but I do love it, like I love all of it.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And I'm so grateful for this film.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
The opportunities that it's bringing me now are insane. I
can't I cannot believe some of the meetings I have
in my calendar.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, I was gonna say, you must be getting some fret.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, yeah, No, I feel like I'm gonna throw up.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
But you'll get to pick which you want to take.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, yeah, hey, it's really important. Now It's like, okay,
I get to.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Choose what I want to do, and it's a really
important time. It's like all eyes on me. Let me,
let me show other people that I can do so much,
so many different things.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I want to be one of those actors.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's sort of like a chameleon where you you don't
even really you're like, wait, that was him. That's that's
what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah, you're going to play all sorts of roles. I
have no doubt. One that you've you've talked about wanting
to play is like an epic, powerful gay character. Why
is that important to you?
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Oh my god, I don't know. I don't know. Besides
I you know, my whole thing has been that.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
What the character's sexuality is, it doesn't matter to me.
It's just like another part of who they are.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And that's how I am. Like, it's just a part
of who I am.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
But that being said, growing up in the Bible Belt
can be problematic for a gay boy, and uh, you know,
and that was a whole kind of experience and so
I definitely am looking forward to playing really intentional queer
(27:03):
role story that's really.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Meaningful, and you know, because okay, well I'll say this.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
When I first moved out to LA I was terrified
and everything was new for me. I never even really
lived in a city before, so it was all very new.
And one of the very first, one of the very
first roles that I got was the gay character on
Teen Wolf. And I still wasn't comfortable with my sexuality
at the time, but I had no idea the impact
(27:32):
that just being myself and playing this character authentically would have.
I got thousands of messages from people thanking me and
telling me how, you know, they feel better about themselves,
they were able to come out of their parents, or
they just appreciate me, and like the impact that I
made just from doing something that scared me and being
(27:54):
brave and like, not only was that really cool, but
also it kind of helped me learn how to like
accept myself. And so yeah, that's something I'm really looking
forward to. I don't know, maybe I'll write it myself,
you know, Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Isn't it amazing that through your work, through playing that
role in Teen Wolf, you were able to better accept
who you were and you are right, like not even
knowing that that would happen. It was a job. You
booked it, you got it. But the bonus of it
all was like, oh wow, I actually feel like I
am okay more with who I am.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean my I mean this is probably
a really universal thing, but like for me, it was
always my sort of struggle with my relationship to masculinity.
What that meant, you know, just.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It was a whole thing. It's a whole journey, and yeah,
it just you know, that's a whole conversation.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
But I'm really, really, really really grave that everything happened
the way that it did, and that that was one
of my first roles because not only that, but being
on a show like teen Wolf that so many people loved,
and also like I sort of I only thought I
was going to be in one episode, and they kept
bringing me back.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
That was sort of my school.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I learned how to how to get around on set
and how things worked, and practiced my acting skills and
like perfected it there and met all these different types
of people and then and then I got to do
the conventions and that took me all.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Around the world, and.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
So that was sort of a really great place to
start and and I still those fans, those teen Wolf
fans are die hard. Yeah, I still actually may I've
had friends.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
That I've made.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
That are you know, started as a fan and like
we're genuinely friends. It's been Yeah, it's been really cool.
I'm really grateful for that experience.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Well, I think it's so cool that that held such
weight for you personally too, and it, like I said,
help shape you know who you are and how comfortable
you are with yourself today, which is awesome. I have
to also bring up X Men ninety seven.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Oh okay, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Because you are a voice actor as well, you know,
and it's out now. You play the Sun of Cyclops
and Madeline Pryor.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yes, who is the clone of Jean Gray?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Yes, and yes?
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Is that a pinch me moment job to be in
the superhero space. You're not just a villain, see, you're
a superhero. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
No, he's a great he's a he's a good kid. Yeah,
he's one of the good ones.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
You know, when I got the audition, I didn't know
what show it was for at first, and then you know,
figured it out and yeah it was great.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
So I love that that's also out so people can
see you be in your villain era.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
But that shows really cool. That show's really cool. Yeah, yeah,
they did.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
They did such a good they did such a great job.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
It's good you and it's cool that you get to
exercise a different skill set.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's great.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Honestly, I'm always gonna do voice over stuff, like I'm
working on a bunch of video games right now that
won't come out for many years, so one day.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I'll be able to talk about all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
But yeah, I have a special place in my heart
for for vo and video games especially.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I can't even play video games anymore.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
I will just if you I had to unplug all
the consoles and put them away, I'll just I won't
get anything done.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Addicted, Yeah, I have an addiction. Well, we look forward
to the video games. You also sing, I do the way.
Gravity is a bop? Hey, thanks, Gravity is a bop.
Are you going to pursue anymore singing?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah? Absolutely, you know. Right now, I'm definitely going to
focus on acting.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You know, strike while the iron is hot, and you
know that is my number one focus overall. But hey,
acting in a role where I get to sing, that's
the goal.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Musical.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Yeah, but I have a ton of music. I have
so many songs I've written and they're just kind of
sitting there and.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I just have to kind of like put a little
polish on them and put them out. I'll do it.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
It'll It'll just be one random, one random Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I'll just like drop, drop another song.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
And yeah, I like me so, you know, with music,
I have a lot of people that are very angry
with me that they're like.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
You could you could do, Oh my god, release your music.
It's amazing, it's amazing. I'm like, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
But I think for me, the music is such a
personal thing and I like having something for me that
is just for me, Like I make it, I do
how I want it. No one's giving me instructions or directions.
Are like kind of I'm trying not to let anyone
criticize it while I'm in the creative process, because I
think so much of the rest of what I do
is reading other people's words and just following the direction
(32:43):
of other people. And I love doing that, and I
love when it's more collaborative and everything. But yeah, for me,
that's that's kind of why the music has been I've
been a little quiet on that front, but yes you will,
there will be more music.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Okay, good forward to that. Yeah, that would be great.
I have so many more questions and we're going to
get some of the rapid fire around. But to wrap
up this portion of today's interview, the name of the shows.
I've never said this before, and I got the idea
because I cover a lot of red carpets and junkets
and another job that I do, and you know, sometimes
(33:16):
I walk away from those nights and days being like,
do we all really even talk about anything? I feel
like you guys say a lot of the same bites
to all the different outlets. Every outlet has to get
their own bite, and it's just so quick that I
wanted to invite fan favorite artists on the show and
kind of breathe and have the space to talk about
things that matter to you guys, and to maybe say
(33:38):
something that you've never had the chance to say before
on a quick carpet or a quick junket that would
feel kind of out of place to say. So I
always done the interview with is there anything that you've
never said before that you want to share it today?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:54):
I've never said this before, but I am so grateful
for all of the rejection and the struggle that I've
gone through in my life in general and in the
pursuit of being an actor, because I've been going at this,
(34:14):
like on camera acting like I've been going at it
really hard, committed to it every single day for ten
years or maybe even.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
A little bit longer.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
At this point, I've done more than a thousand audition tapes,
and you know, rejection is part of the job as
an actor. But honestly, I mean, I feel like that's
something anyone could relate to. I think that I've sort
of changed my mindset on it to be from like
this feels so horrible in this moment to like, Okay,
(34:47):
if I'm feeling that sort of like a failure, I
know that it's just leading me to the right thing
and making me stronger. And yeah, I think that's what
I would say. So you know, it's not, like not
Eyven groundbreaking, but I think it's just a good reminder,
like look at like, I'm just so proud of what
we did with this movie, and I'm so glad that
(35:09):
it came. Now I got to get some like build
some character, you know, get knocked down a few times
and pick up some real life experience too, you know,
in everything and love and all this stuff that I
got to go through.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
And then I put it into this work that I
did and made it art.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah you know.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
So I'm just I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Hmmm. Yeah, that must be a good feeling.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yeah, it is. I That's that's the whole idea.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Is that, like a really horrible, really painful feeling in
a moment that you feel like you just can't get past,
can all of a sudden later turn into one of
the best things that you ever went through, either because
it led you to the right place where you have
to learn a really hard lesson too.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yeah, so my little therapy.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
I love that. I really love that. I think it's
a reminder for all of us. And I'm kind of
from the same train of thought where I feel like
even things that a few years ago where I would
look back on and be like, oh that was a
waste of time or why did I have to go
through that, it's like, oh, wait, like I had to
go through all Yeah, because I wouldn't a appreciate where
I am today or be maybe not even be where
I am today.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Yes, yeah, you got to learn what you like, Yeah,
learn what you don't.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
You got to you gotta waste some time to to
really value your time.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Right, so yeah, well Michael, you're not wasting any time. Well,
you're killing it, right.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
I still waste plenty of time I've never done now.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
I can't wait to see what you do next. I'm
so curious about these meetings. I'm sure you'll either be
the next James Bond or some Marvel superhero in person
and human form, not just be oh sure, Like we're
gonna throw it all out there, and.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I can't wait to see.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
It at all than having it's been such a pleasure. Yeah,
And everyone can watch Obsession on.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
Video on demand where you can rent it, you can
buy it. You can watch it at home, still in
the theater for a little while and know when this
is area right right, everybody.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Can watch check it out. Yeah, thank you, man, man,
appreciate you, thank you. I've never said this before. Is
hosted by Me Tommy Dedario. This podcast is executive produced
by Andrew Puglisi at iHeartRadio and by Me Tommy, with
editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've never said this before. Is
part of the Elvis Duran podcast network on iHeart Podcasts
(37:34):
for more, rate, review and subscribe to our show. And
if you liked this episode, tell your friends. Until next time,
I'm Tommy de Dario
Hey guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
me Tommy di Dario. One of the biggest movies of
the year is Obsession. It is shattering box office numbers
and even became the first movie since nineteen eighty two's
et to have bigger second and third weekends than the first.
That is so hard to achieve, and it just goes
(00:22):
to show what a special film Obsession is. And today
I have one of the insanely talented stars on my show.
Now you may know him as Bear, but in real
life he goes by Michael Johnston, and today he's answering
all of our burning questions. And a big shout out
to travel Guard, my personal sponsor for today's episode. Their
mission is to make sure you and I safely say
(00:42):
hello to our next destination, especially with summer travel here,
so a vacation insurance planned from travel Guard will help
to protect your trip investment with coverages like trip cancelation
and interruption, medical expense, and evacuation, lost or delayed baggage,
which absolutely sucks and so much more so let's enjoy
our trips without all the headaches. Okay. You can visit
(01:02):
travel guard dot com for more they seriously change the
game when it comes to traveling peacefully. All right, let's
see if today we can get Michael to say something
that he has never said before. Michael Johnson, how are you,
my man?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I am psyched that you are here. It's weird to
see you in person because i feel like I've seen
you all over my social media for like a month
and a half NonStop. So I'm like, are you here?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I'm here. You know I'm here.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I'm real, Okay, I'm not not that guy.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
That you've been seeing.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Has that been a distinction you've had to make for
some fans? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
A few times.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Really, No, It's been really fun, but there are definitely
some people that are kind of giving me that side eye,
like what's.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
To deal with this guy?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Man, I mean congrats on all of it, possession. I
just saw it surpassed now four hundred million. That's nuts,
right on a seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars budget. Yeah,
like this little indie film that just blew up in
such a big way. Yeah. Was there any moment when
you were filming this where you thought like, could could
it turn into what it has?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I definitely try not to have those expectations when I'm
making a movie. But I would say no, I just
I we all knew that we were working on a
really special project, and you know, it was like, oh,
this is really good. But I never imagined that we'd
get a theatrical release, let alone break all these records.
(02:34):
So it's pretty it's pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I don't even know where it began. It's it's it's
one of those performances where you're like, wow, like you
you felt what you were going through.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Oh yeah, I felt that your body doesn't know that
it's not real and this is kind of nuts. But
there's a there's a scene at the end. If you've
seen the film.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
We can do spoilers.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a scene at the end where
bears in the bathroom, and I saw this clip of
the composer Rocky talking about how like he could hear
my heart beating like on my mic and he was
kind of using that as like inspiration to the music
as he was composing it for that scene. But that's
just to say that when I was playing this character,
(03:17):
I was really trying to go there.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And felt it felt real.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
There were times where it'd be like cut and I'd
be like and I have to go and kind of
chill out and you know.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Listen to some soothing music.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah. Yeah, I imagine the whole shoot, which was for how.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Long it was a twenty day shoot?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Twenty day shoot?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Too short?
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I mean, and you did that all in twenty days,
which is crazy emotionally too. I mean, did you need
time to come down after that?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Well so the first so if we're four weeks, the
first two weeks of shooting were all in Bear's house.
It's half the movie, so a lot of those scenes
are really super intense. So that was definitely the more intense.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Week two weeks. So the first week.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I kind of went in and you know, I'm doing
it all day, then you get home, and then you
then I'm learning my lines for the next day, and
so I'm pretty much don't get to turn it off.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And I just thought, oh, no, this is good.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I can do this. But it started to get it
started to kind of wear down on me. And I
remember this one time I walked by the mirror and
I just looked in the mirror and I just like
I looked like ten years older. Like I just felt like, oh,
my God, and then.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I'm like, oh wait, it's not none of this is real.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Like I had to just remind myself. But I really
enjoy that whole process. Like I'm not I'm not going
method or anything, but I really do enjoy the process
of like kind of carrying it around.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, but I'd love to do a romantic comedy next.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Something a little lighter. Yeah. Yeah, you beat yourself up
enough for that, I think. So, I mean, I hope
you have a good self care practice after.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I had to figure that out while we were shooting,
and it was usually taking a bath or just eating
really good eating really good, clean food and finding my
like cashew ice cream. So I'm upset my tummy, but
I have my little things. But yeah, I had to
figure that out because it got it got dark. Meanwhile,
(05:12):
Indy she's you know, she's brilliant in the film, and
she's playing this crazy character of this intense performance, but
like she was having fun.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
She was just like laughing and having fun then.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
But you know, I find that when it's a more
kind of crazy, intense, big performance, it tends to it
tends to be more of a blast. But when you're
sort of like the one that's the audience's way in
like you're watching it through. Everything is about what Bear
is experiencing, Like when when you're carrying that, the weight
(05:48):
of that during the filming it in my experience, it it.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Weighs on you a lot more emotionally.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, but you know, I'm learning as I as I go. Oh,
I'm excited to play all kinds of different.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Roles and yeah, yeah, you definitely can check horror off, but.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I want to do more horror.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I really like I think if I the next villain,
I would like to be maybe not as understated, like
I want to be like that guy where you're like, oh, yeah,
he's evil, no right away, but you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I'm open.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, you'll have many options, I no doubt. Let's dive
into the movie for a minute. There's so many questions
I have. I guess to start, when Bear breaks the
one wish Willow, what do you think is the moment
that he realized something was wrong? Like when did it
really kick in for him?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Well, it's kind of hard to answer that question because
I think Bear lives in a constant state of denial.
He's definitely if you're up on your attachment theory. He's avoidant,
extremely avoidant, and I just don't think he has the
tools to well. He certainly can't take any kind of
responsibility for anything that he's done.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That's just the kind of person that he is.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So I would but I think, I think where in
the film does he realize maybe that something's wrong. I
would say, right away, he knows that there's something wrong
with Nikki, But where does he realize that, like.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Oh my god, what have I done? I don't know if.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I don't know if it fully kicks in until the
middle of the film, and even when it does, it's
it's too hard for him to face it. So I'd
have to go back and watch again and see exactly where.
But I have heard people debating on this.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And kind of trying to figure out exactly what moment
it was.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
But all I can say is he certainly didn't think
that the wish was gonna work right. It was just
kind of like one of those things you think in
your head, like a thought. You never think, like, oh,
I'm just gonna say something and I'm alone in the car,
like I don't. You don't expect it, but it's you know,
it's about what he did after.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Right, right, And I mean watching you and Indie together
was it was thrilling to say the least.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, I just.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Never knew where it was gonna go. Yeah. Yeah, And
I know her facial expressions and her creepy smiling must
have been a little freaky on set for sure. But
was there something she like physically did where you were like,
this is freaking me out? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
A few times, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I mean, of course, I'd read the script and I
knew mostly what was coming, but we workshop things on
the day and they Curry the director, Curry Barker, and
Indy would often leave the room and go work on
it and then come back and I'd be like, what's.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Up, guys, what are we doing?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And they'd be like, you'll see. So I just had
to be present and be in the moment. But you know,
she threw some awesome stuff my way and we had fun.
She's the best scene partner. It's cool because in the
beginning of the film, when Bear first mixed the wish,
there was a lot of conversation about like how sudden
is the turn, and we sort of thought about kind
(08:48):
of trying to make it really subtle, but then we
try to take where it's like, oh no, she switches immediately,
and we knew that was it right away. There was
a moment, I think because we shot that on there
was a moment where we huddled together after a take
and I remember currying being like, guys, this.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Movie's gonna work. You know, it's just crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah, yeah, oh my god, how fun. That must have
been exhausting but fun.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, but you know it was everything. It was exactly
you know, it was a challenge. Every movie is a
kind of a miracle, right, So we were all putting
together this complicated puzzle and take the talent and you know,
hard work and luck and plenty of things that were
out of our control to kind of feel like we
(09:35):
just kind of caught lightning in a bottle with this,
you know, yeah, this whole this whole thing.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
You know, we made a great film.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
But also it came out at the perfect time, you know,
like Focused Features got it, Like they did an incredible
job with the marketing, Like shout out to the marketing campaign.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
It was brilliant.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
So yeah, I mean, I'm just so I'm so grateful
to get to do that. Yeah, you know, yeah, it's
a it's a it's a dream come true. It still
doesn't feel real. It's very like what is.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Happening right well?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
People coming up to me and stuff in public.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Like, yeah, it's also new, it's also different. It's it's
but it's deserved. Like I said, the performances were so great.
You're pretty you're pretty adamant that Bear is a villain? Right?
Did you? Did you always feel that way? No? His journey.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Here's the thing. This is really funny because.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
There's a clip on the internet of like of a
Q and A or something at one of the movie
theaters and someone asked me, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Is he the villain? And I'm sort of like, I
can't say yes or no.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
And then, you know, that ruffled some feathers because really,
if you looking at it objectively, like, yeah, of course
he makes some horrific decisions, and so that would.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Be classified as a villain.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
But you know, one, I would sleep deprived because we
just did our press junket. But two, what I realized
is after I've watched the film a few more times,
it kind of opened my eyes to like the process, Like,
when I'm playing Bear, I'm not thinking about whether or
not he's a villain, like, it's not my job to
judge the character.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
That's all up to the audience and the script and
the director. The director.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
For me, I have to actually be really careful not
to put any judgment on what he's doing, because my
job is only to bring humanity to his experience and.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Make it real and believe it.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
And most villains don't think that they're villains, right, So
I feel like, in my experience as an actor, you
are really protective of your characters that you're playing because
you're living in their head.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
You know, I didn't want to.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I don't I'm not playing Bear and thinking, wow, I'm
really a piece of shit, Like that wouldn't be fun.
So but you know, so after that I kind of realized.
I'm like, I'm watching that clip and I'm like, well, no,
he's the villain.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I just I didn't want to judge him while I
was playing him because I'm sitting there trying to literally
justify everything that he's doing. And the way that that
kind of looked was in my opinion, Bear kind of
has this tunnel vision and all he sees is what
he wants, which is this girl, because he thinks that
(12:16):
the idea of her is going to fix all the
problems in his life, or at least make it so
that he doesn't have to feel all the pain, because
look at the film, he's like, he's like popping pills
that belonged to his grandmother who recently passed away. He's
lost his pet, he's very lonely.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Like you know, I think.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
He's just like a sad little boy. You know, we
don't really get to see a lot of what happened
in their lives before, so I had to kind of
come up with these ideas of what his life must
have looked like.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
And I don't think.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Bear ever wanted anyone to get hurt. He didn't intend
to do anything bad. He didn't want his friend to
be suffering. But I think that one pivotal moment in
the film where he's sort of like, you know, what's
so bad about being with me? Like, yeah, it's very villainous.
But I think even in that moment, at least, the
way that I played it and the way that it
(13:06):
kind of the way that I had to justify the
action came from a place of like, Okay, well, this
guy thinks he's like in such a deep hole that
there's just that there's no one watching, there's no one
to be He's not going to be held accountable, and
that is awful, it's truly awful. But when I'm in
Bear's head, I'm sort of just kind of, Yeah, he's
(13:30):
only thinking about himself.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
It's awful. It's really selfish.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
But he's not thinking like, oh, I want you to suffer.
It's just he's a flawed guy. So yeah, if that
kind of makes sense. It's like, I just to be
able to play this character because I would never do
the things that he's doing. I would never it's awful,
but he doesn't see it that way. That's what I
(13:54):
loved about the script.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
When I read it.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I was so excited that it didn't turn out to
have that sort of redemption arc, because I think that's
kind of a what do you call it, like a
trope it So it happens a lot. It's like, we
redeem our characters. We want to go home feeling nice
and warm and fuzzy inside.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
None of this film, no way.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Oh no, there's nothing mormon fuzzy, not at all. But
it's it's it's captivating, and it's not how I thought
it would end, which is what I appreciated. Truly. I'm like,
oh wow, I didn't see that coming. I thought that
was really really cool.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
One of the most debated questions I feel like that
I keep seeing is did Nikky ever at one point
truly love Bear.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
That's a great question, And I never even asked myself
that until way after we were done shooting, Like in
my mind, like playing like again with that tunnel vision
where I have to play Bear.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
My answer was.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Always no way, she's going to reject me. That's how
he lives his life. That's he There's no way he
doesn't have confidence. Actually, then looking back and then hearing
from the actor and the director's perspective, they were both like, yeah,
she was kind of like dropping a couple hints. But
then I think what happened in that same like following
moment in that same scene was that she kind of
(15:15):
like was turned off by his utter lack of confidence,
Like she like threw him the ball, like here's your opening,
tell me how you feel. And when he kind of
didn't do it, she's like whatever, Like, but Indy told
me that she she played it even a little bit disappointed,
So you know, if he would have just like, that's
the lesson, just like tell him how you feel, right, Yeah,
(15:36):
but then we wouldn't have this movie right, and we
wouldn't have all these arguments right.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
And also it's so human to feel something for someone
and not say anything. I feel like we've all been
there before.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Oh yeah, absolutely, I was reliving a moment when I
did that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, no, it felt very real, you know. And also
like the movie's really funny too. I didn't know it
was going to be funny like that. That was all
on the editing. We played everything very straight straightforward with Bear.
I was watching the movie for the first time in
the theater with all these people and they're laughing.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I felt embarrassed. I was like, geez, why you.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Thought they were laughing at your performance?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
No, no, Like I didn't realize how awkward. Well, I
knew it was awkward in the moment, but I didn't
realize that that awkward tension would often translate into huge laughs,
Like I just I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I was sort of in my mind.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I think I was sort of playing like very serious,
like everything that's happening is very very serious to Bear.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, right, but you know, Curry is editing his comedy background.
It was brilliant. Yeah, I love it. I'm glad. I'm
glad that they found the balance of the humor because
the movie's dark.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah. Yeah, no, I feel we needed that.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
We needed that.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, well, because you played it so straight during the
entire duration of the filming and you didn't add in
that humor purposefully. Right. Was there a scene or moment
where you and Indie kept breaking like oh that you
were just laughing so hard and you're like, wait, we
got to get our shit together. Come on, what moment
was that?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Oh? Man? I mean there were so many moments. I mean,
I would say that.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
With Horror, the scary moments, they're very technical, and you know,
it's not dark, it's pretty lit when you're shooting it.
They do that all in the editing, and you don't
hear the music and you know the so it doesn't
really tend to feel scary. It kind of feels really silly.
(17:37):
And in those really technical moments, the scary moments, you
are fully having to trust the director like is this
really scary? Is this really working? You just have to
trust that they know what they're doing and just kind
of be their puppet like do exactly, okay, move yourhead,
do this okay. Sure, So I think that for example,
the head smashing scene in the car, I just remember
(18:00):
we were cracking.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Up, especially Indy.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Indy had this like helmet on with a wig because
she actually like smashed through the glass and we were
all like wearing the wig and passing it around and
like dancing around. I'm sure there's like videos on TikTok
of it that that and oh yeah, and then a
lot of the scary like I remember there's a scene
that's where she says like I'm your freaking Nikki and
(18:24):
smiles at me and the like near the kitchen or something.
And the first time I saw.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
That, I went, oh, And I remember Curry was like, Michael,
shut up, like because I.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Was ruining the the take because I justly got this
visceral reaction out of me.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
But and then you know, we're laughing.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
But we the whole time we were laughing, And it's
really important, I think, to kind of keep it light
when you're making a movie like this.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, for sure, you got a laugh like that. People
are like, oh, I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I remember people being really sensitive about like I don't
want to take you out of them, like no, please, God.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Please, it'skill me. A joke said, you're not method.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I'm not going like it's okay, no, And I don't think.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
You should have gone method for a role like this
that might be a little a little scary.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Did you my God? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Film and alternate ending, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, we did.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
It was so there's a toward the end of the film,
there were a couple different moments that we played with,
Like the big one would be, you know, Nikki's about
to make a decision at the end, and so the
first thing we did was actually film the gun going
off and the blood splatter, and it was practical and
(19:34):
it was so gruesome and it was devastating. And then
we decided to get the take where she lives.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And thinking that the other one was going to.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Be too intense, but actually it turned out that her performance,
I think we only made done one take of that
final one that made it, I think, and her her
performance was so devastating to then like wake up and
see all of her friends and then and then as an audience,
you're left wondering, like how much of that did she
actually see? Like because we don't quite know the experience
(20:05):
that she was having exactly what it was like, so
that ended up being even more devastating. So they went
with that one, which I think was the right choice.
And then another thing that we played around with was
Bear's bathroom scene. Originally in the script, it was that
he can't go through with it, and then he takes
the pills and he's just kind of sitting there waiting
(20:27):
and then she makes the wish.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
And he comes out.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
But I actually got the idea when we were filming
that I think Bear would chick it out and try
to get rid of the pills. And so I just said, hey, guys,
we were moving on, and I said one more I
have an idea, let me try it.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
And they're like, we can't. We're getting kicked out of here.
We gotta go, and I'm like, no, trust me.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
They and I told them what it was, and I
remember Curry was like, roll again, roll again, and we
got it and it was so good. Also, like I'm
swallowing these pills right, so they're like they're like twenty
like sugar pills or something in this thing. Then all
the other takes, I just put them in my mouth
and held them there, and then when we were done,
like spit them out. But on that take that made
(21:07):
it into the film, like gag, I swallowed them, like
like twenty pills.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Oh god, I.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Feel like I had striped throat afterwards. But I did it.
I couldn't.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I'd never thought I can't swallow one pill. You know,
I'm like, I drink a whole glass of water trying
to get one pill down, and somehow I got that down.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
So I was very proud of myself.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You should be very proud. That should go on your image.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Maybe not, Okay, probably not.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's wow, that's so cool. And the take they kept,
the take of you trying to spit the pills.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah when you thought made it?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, which is so cool.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
No, it made it. And then you know, that just
speaks to like the kind of environment that Curry.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Allowed on set. He was he was very specific. He
had a really very specific vision for everything that he wanted.
But then we would get that and then we could
play and he's like, hey, you know, we have time.
You guys have an idea or whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
He was very open to it, and I think that's
how movies should be.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, because we're all.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Bringing our own experience and perspective, and you know, and
he did. He was he was very open to like
it was very much like a best idea win situation.
But usually usually Curry had the best idea. It was
just funny because that's a bad idea. Is the name
of his you know channel for all their videos. So yeah,
(22:23):
it was so much fun working with those guys.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So obsession too.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Everyone keeps asking are you throwing your name?
Speaker 1 (22:30):
And can you somehow bring me back? Can I resurrect?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Look?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And I mean it's a magical world. Anything can happen.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I would love that. I will say, there's no plan
for that. And also, I don't know how many people
would want Bear. I think a lot.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
I think the general consensus is that he kind of
got what he deserved.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Unless Nikki gets to have her chance now ruining his.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Life, well that could be interesting vigilante kind of thing,
But I think that My.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Idea was always that it'd be like.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Bear's parents came back to town and walk in and they're like,
what happened?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
And maybe they step on the willow.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
There's like one on the floor or something, and I
don't know, I don't know, but you know, Curry's idea
of having it as be an anthology series is really
really cool, all different stories, and I'd love to see.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
A wish Gone right? Yeah, how fun would that be?
Like a selfish wish gone.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Right might be not the horror genre.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Then well, it didn't all have to be horror.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I think you just have to really be careful how
you phrase it.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Well, that's true, that's true. If you learned anything, it's
definitely that. I can't believe that this movie, it's like
the little engine that could have taken on the life
that it's taken on. And you've been an actor for
many years now, right, and this was your big break,
but you've been you've been at it for a while.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
What is acting taught you about yourself over the years?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
I think, well, part of the reason why I always
loved acting pretending to be someone else, because like when
I was young, I felt very uncomfortable in my own skin.
And then I think through pretending to be other people
and my interest in watching people and trying to understand
(24:20):
why they do the things they do, has helped me
sort of form my own personality and opinions. And so
it was just like my safe place like it was.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
It was easier and safer.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
And more fun for me to like do things I've
never done and say things I've never said by playing
it as someone else.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
It was like practice for me. And then I think.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
As I've grown and through my twenties, I've just become
more confident as in who I.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Am sort of. So yeah, it's it's been really cool.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Also, I haven't always been an on camera actor, like
I started with a voice overwork and that was really
why I moved out to Los Angeles from a small
town North Carolina. And then I met my manager and
he's like, you gotta do.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Film, And I was like, I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
If I'll be good, Okay, let's go. I don't know,
but I do love it, like I love all of it.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And I'm so grateful for this film.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
The opportunities that it's bringing me now are insane. I
can't I cannot believe some of the meetings I have
in my calendar.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, I was gonna say, you must be getting some fret.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, yeah, No, I feel like I'm gonna throw up.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
But you'll get to pick which you want to take.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, yeah, hey, it's really important. Now It's like, okay,
I get to.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Choose what I want to do, and it's a really
important time. It's like all eyes on me. Let me,
let me show other people that I can do so much,
so many different things.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I want to be one of those actors.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's sort of like a chameleon where you you don't
even really you're like, wait, that was him. That's that's
what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah, you're going to play all sorts of roles. I
have no doubt. One that you've you've talked about wanting
to play is like an epic, powerful gay character. Why
is that important to you?
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Oh my god, I don't know. I don't know. Besides
I you know, my whole thing has been that.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
What the character's sexuality is, it doesn't matter to me.
It's just like another part of who they are.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And that's how I am. Like, it's just a part
of who I am.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
But that being said, growing up in the Bible Belt
can be problematic for a gay boy, and uh, you know,
and that was a whole kind of experience and so
I definitely am looking forward to playing really intentional queer
(27:03):
role story that's really.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Meaningful, and you know, because okay, well I'll say this.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
When I first moved out to LA I was terrified
and everything was new for me. I never even really
lived in a city before, so it was all very new.
And one of the very first, one of the very
first roles that I got was the gay character on
Teen Wolf. And I still wasn't comfortable with my sexuality
at the time, but I had no idea the impact
(27:32):
that just being myself and playing this character authentically would have.
I got thousands of messages from people thanking me and
telling me how, you know, they feel better about themselves,
they were able to come out of their parents, or
they just appreciate me, and like the impact that I
made just from doing something that scared me and being
(27:54):
brave and like, not only was that really cool, but
also it kind of helped me learn how to like
accept myself. And so yeah, that's something I'm really looking
forward to. I don't know, maybe I'll write it myself,
you know, Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Isn't it amazing that through your work, through playing that
role in Teen Wolf, you were able to better accept
who you were and you are right, like not even
knowing that that would happen. It was a job. You
booked it, you got it. But the bonus of it
all was like, oh wow, I actually feel like I
am okay more with who I am.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean my I mean this is probably
a really universal thing, but like for me, it was
always my sort of struggle with my relationship to masculinity.
What that meant, you know, just.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It was a whole thing. It's a whole journey, and yeah,
it just you know, that's a whole conversation.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
But I'm really, really, really really grave that everything happened
the way that it did, and that that was one
of my first roles because not only that, but being
on a show like teen Wolf that so many people loved,
and also like I sort of I only thought I
was going to be in one episode, and they kept
bringing me back.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
That was sort of my school.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I learned how to how to get around on set
and how things worked, and practiced my acting skills and
like perfected it there and met all these different types
of people and then and then I got to do
the conventions and that took me all.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Around the world, and.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
So that was sort of a really great place to
start and and I still those fans, those teen Wolf
fans are die hard. Yeah, I still actually may I've
had friends.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
That I've made.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
That are you know, started as a fan and like
we're genuinely friends. It's been Yeah, it's been really cool.
I'm really grateful for that experience.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Well, I think it's so cool that that held such
weight for you personally too, and it, like I said,
help shape you know who you are and how comfortable
you are with yourself today, which is awesome. I have
to also bring up X Men ninety seven.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Oh okay, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Because you are a voice actor as well, you know,
and it's out now. You play the Sun of Cyclops
and Madeline Pryor.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yes, who is the clone of Jean Gray?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Yes, and yes?
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Is that a pinch me moment job to be in
the superhero space. You're not just a villain, see, you're
a superhero. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
No, he's a great he's a he's a good kid. Yeah,
he's one of the good ones.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
You know, when I got the audition, I didn't know
what show it was for at first, and then you know,
figured it out and yeah it was great.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
So I love that that's also out so people can
see you be in your villain era.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
But that shows really cool. That show's really cool. Yeah, yeah,
they did.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
They did such a good they did such a great job.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
It's good you and it's cool that you get to
exercise a different skill set.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's great.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Honestly, I'm always gonna do voice over stuff, like I'm
working on a bunch of video games right now that
won't come out for many years, so one day.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I'll be able to talk about all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
But yeah, I have a special place in my heart
for for vo and video games especially.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I can't even play video games anymore.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
I will just if you I had to unplug all
the consoles and put them away, I'll just I won't
get anything done.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Addicted, Yeah, I have an addiction. Well, we look forward
to the video games. You also sing, I do the way.
Gravity is a bop? Hey, thanks, Gravity is a bop.
Are you going to pursue anymore singing?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah? Absolutely, you know. Right now, I'm definitely going to
focus on acting.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You know, strike while the iron is hot, and you
know that is my number one focus overall. But hey,
acting in a role where I get to sing, that's
the goal.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Musical.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Yeah, but I have a ton of music. I have
so many songs I've written and they're just kind of
sitting there and.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I just have to kind of like put a little
polish on them and put them out. I'll do it.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
It'll It'll just be one random, one random Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I'll just like drop, drop another song.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
And yeah, I like me so, you know, with music,
I have a lot of people that are very angry
with me that they're like.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
You could you could do, Oh my god, release your music.
It's amazing, it's amazing. I'm like, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
But I think for me, the music is such a
personal thing and I like having something for me that
is just for me, Like I make it, I do
how I want it. No one's giving me instructions or directions.
Are like kind of I'm trying not to let anyone
criticize it while I'm in the creative process, because I
think so much of the rest of what I do
is reading other people's words and just following the direction
(32:43):
of other people. And I love doing that, and I
love when it's more collaborative and everything. But yeah, for me,
that's that's kind of why the music has been I've
been a little quiet on that front, but yes you will,
there will be more music.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Okay, good forward to that. Yeah, that would be great.
I have so many more questions and we're going to
get some of the rapid fire around. But to wrap
up this portion of today's interview, the name of the shows.
I've never said this before, and I got the idea
because I cover a lot of red carpets and junkets
and another job that I do, and you know, sometimes
(33:16):
I walk away from those nights and days being like,
do we all really even talk about anything? I feel
like you guys say a lot of the same bites
to all the different outlets. Every outlet has to get
their own bite, and it's just so quick that I
wanted to invite fan favorite artists on the show and
kind of breathe and have the space to talk about
things that matter to you guys, and to maybe say
(33:38):
something that you've never had the chance to say before
on a quick carpet or a quick junket that would
feel kind of out of place to say. So I
always done the interview with is there anything that you've
never said before that you want to share it today?
Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:54):
I've never said this before, but I am so grateful
for all of the rejection and the struggle that I've
gone through in my life in general and in the
pursuit of being an actor, because I've been going at this,
(34:14):
like on camera acting like I've been going at it
really hard, committed to it every single day for ten
years or maybe even.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
A little bit longer.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
At this point, I've done more than a thousand audition tapes,
and you know, rejection is part of the job as
an actor. But honestly, I mean, I feel like that's
something anyone could relate to. I think that I've sort
of changed my mindset on it to be from like
this feels so horrible in this moment to like, Okay,
(34:47):
if I'm feeling that sort of like a failure, I
know that it's just leading me to the right thing
and making me stronger. And yeah, I think that's what
I would say. So you know, it's not, like not
Eyven groundbreaking, but I think it's just a good reminder,
like look at like, I'm just so proud of what
we did with this movie, and I'm so glad that
(35:09):
it came. Now I got to get some like build
some character, you know, get knocked down a few times
and pick up some real life experience too, you know,
in everything and love and all this stuff that I
got to go through.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
And then I put it into this work that I
did and made it art.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah you know.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
So I'm just I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Hmmm. Yeah, that must be a good feeling.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yeah, it is. I That's that's the whole idea.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Is that, like a really horrible, really painful feeling in
a moment that you feel like you just can't get past,
can all of a sudden later turn into one of
the best things that you ever went through, either because
it led you to the right place where you have
to learn a really hard lesson too.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yeah, so my little therapy.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
I love that. I really love that. I think it's
a reminder for all of us. And I'm kind of
from the same train of thought where I feel like
even things that a few years ago where I would
look back on and be like, oh that was a
waste of time or why did I have to go
through that, it's like, oh, wait, like I had to
go through all Yeah, because I wouldn't a appreciate where
I am today or be maybe not even be where
I am today.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Yes, yeah, you got to learn what you like, Yeah,
learn what you don't.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
You got to you gotta waste some time to to
really value your time.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Right, so yeah, well Michael, you're not wasting any time. Well,
you're killing it, right.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
I still waste plenty of time I've never done now.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
I can't wait to see what you do next. I'm
so curious about these meetings. I'm sure you'll either be
the next James Bond or some Marvel superhero in person
and human form, not just be oh sure, Like we're
gonna throw it all out there, and.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I can't wait to see.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
It at all than having it's been such a pleasure. Yeah,
And everyone can watch Obsession on.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
Video on demand where you can rent it, you can
buy it. You can watch it at home, still in
the theater for a little while and know when this
is area right right, everybody.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Can watch check it out. Yeah, thank you, man, man,
appreciate you, thank you. I've never said this before. Is
hosted by Me Tommy Dedario. This podcast is executive produced
by Andrew Puglisi at iHeartRadio and by Me Tommy, with
editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've never said this before. Is
part of the Elvis Duran podcast network on iHeart Podcasts
(37:34):
for more, rate, review and subscribe to our show. And
if you liked this episode, tell your friends. Until next time,
I'm Tommy de Dario
Elvis Duran and the Morning Show ON DEMAND News
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